ByteDance investors said to value TikTok at US$50 billion in takeover bid
- It is unclear whether Zhang Yiming, founder and chief executive of ByteDance, will be satisfied with the offer
- TikTok faces the prospect of US intervention after President Donald Trump and other administration officials said they were considering banning the app
Some investors of TikTok’s parent company ByteDance are seeking to take over the popular social media app after valuing it at about US$50 billion, significantly more than peers such as Snap, according to people familiar with the matter.
Beijing-based ByteDance is considering a range of options for TikTok amid pressure from the United States to relinquish control of the app, which allows users to create short videos with special effects and has become wildly popular with US teenagers. The app’s success has helped turn ByteDance into one of only a handful truly global Chinese conglomerates.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an inter-agency panel that reviews deals by foreign acquirers for potential national security risks, has raised concerns about the safety of the personal data that TikTok handles under its Chinese owner, Reuters has previously reported.
Privately held ByteDance has received a proposal from some of its investors, including Sequoia Capital and General Atlantic, to transfer majority ownership of TikTok to them, the sources said. It has also fielded acquisition interest in TikTok from other companies and investment firms, the sources said.
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The investors’ bid values TikTok at 50 times its projected 2020 revenue of about US$1 billion, according to the sources. By comparison, Snap is valued at 15 times its projected 2020 revenue, at about US$33 billion, according to data provider Refinitiv.